Every 10 years the country gets caught up in a frenzy of
numbers. States, cities, and organizations jockey to make sure all
their constituents are noted during the deci-annual U.S. census.
And politicians bluster and spout about equality and district
lines.

But once all the heads are counted and the population number is
determined, what can be done with all the facts, figures, and
statistics the Census Bureau has laboriously collected?

Homebased business owners will find that the answer to this
question is . . . quite a lot. We dove head
first into the Census Bureau to find out exactly how this
number-crunching behemoth can help your small business.

One of the quickest and most obvious ways to find out what's
available is to visit the Census' Web site at http://www.census.gov. (Why don't
you join our tour? We'll wait while you log on.) John
Kavaliunas, assistant chief of marketing services and conductor of
our tour of the site, starts us off on the Just For Fun page. Map
Stats is the centerpiece of Just For Fun; Kavaliunas describes it
as "a quick and easy way to find out the demographics and
other characteristics of your area."

Considering our area happens to be California, let's click
on Map Stats, which yields a map of the United States. Now click on
California to behold an enlarged view of the state. Click on
Southern California to call forth its counties; let's select,
say, Orange.

You've got a couple of options here: You can click on Map,
1990 STF1A or STF3A Tables, USA Counties General Profile, or County
Business Patterns Economic Profile. Kavaliunas' personal
preference? "I would look at USA Counties General
Profile," he suggests. "You get a quick profile for the
area. It includes information not only from the Census but from
other Census Bureau programs, such as the Bureau of Economic
Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as data
sources such as the National Center for Health
Statistics."

What we got was a thumbnail sketch of Orange County, including
data such as population, births, deaths and educational level. Now
it's up to you to match these general statistics with your
specific needs. For example, if you run a service targeting
seniors, it's important to note that about 10 percent of the
population are social security recipients; if you own a retail
store, pay particular attention to statistics like per capita
retail spending and personal income levels.

Next, let's return to the page titled Orange County,
California, and click on County Business Patterns. This section
features facts such as the number of employees, annual payroll and
total number of establishments in a particular SIC Code. The data
is divided by industry, and then further divided into business
sizes. "An entrepreneur could use these statistics to see what
competition is in the area," says Kavaliunas.

If you need to know specific characteristics of a population,
backtrack to the Orange County page and click on STF3A Tables. Here
you get a long list of data, ranging from race and family type to
the time residents leave for work. Check off the information you
want, hit the Submit button, and you can download the
information.

What you now have is a customized collection of data to use for
your marketing plan. "If you choose Place of Work, for
example, you can find out what the daytime population is [in your
business's area]," Kavaliunas says.

Changing The Subject

Another way you can search the site is by using Subjects A to Z,
found at the Census home page. "This gives the major topics on
which we collect information," says Kavaliunas. "But
remember, most of the statistics are at the national
level."

For example, searching under the Statistical Abstract,
you'll find really good national data. This page includes
births, deaths, fertility rates, consumer price index numbers,
patents issued, bankruptcies filed, partnerships by industry, etc.
An area that provides more localized information is the state data
centers.

Also under Subjects A to Z, you can access Tiger Mapping
Services under the letter T, which allows you to create a
customized map of an area in which you're interested. Visiting
this page requires a lot of patience, as it's a
graphics-intensive application and one of the busiest sites on the
home page. If you click on New Location, you'll arrive at U.S.
Gazetteer, where you can explore an area by city or ZIP code.

Census Shopping Network

The final stop of our tour is at CenStore and CenStats on the
home page. CenStore lists all the Census Bureau and Government
Printing Office products available for purchase.

CenStat is an online service that provides access to the more
popular census data files in greater detail, for subscription rates
of either $40 quarterly or $125 annually. What do you get for your
money? Kavaliunas says this service offers International Data in
four-digit, rather than one-digit, Standard International Trade
Classification codes; 1,000 data items as opposed to 100 or so in
the U.S. county profile; and a census tract locator providing
detailed neighborhood statistics.

In January, the Census Bureau introduced a CD-ROM, Landview III,
that functions similarly to the Tiger Map Service. The full U.S.
version is $549; a combination of states costs $99. These products
can be purchased through the Census Bureau's Web site.

Numbers Game

Innkeeper Uses Census To Help Fine-Tune Her Marketing
Efforts.

In many ways, Sharon Tabor typifies the corporate refugee. The
39-year-old North Carolina resident left a retail management job
two years ago to run her own business because she was "tired
of the corporate rat race."

Tabor bought a bed-and-breakfast in Asheville, North Carolina.
Although she had zero experience running an inn, when she found the
Acorn Cottage Bed and Breakfast, with its 1920s-style architecture
and prime location, she knew it was exactly what she'd been
looking for.

Currently, Tabor does most of her marketing through guide books
and via the Internet. When we asked her how she thought the Census
Bureau could help her business, she confessed that she had been
completely unaware of the service. "If I had known it was
there," she says, "I would have looked at it."

After this revelation, Tabor decided to use the Bureau to help
her pinpoint the regions where she should spend her future
marketing dollars. "The visitors who typically come to a
bed-and-breakfast are 40 to 45 years old, have an annual income
over $40,000 and are college-educated. They're mostly couples
on a weekend getaway," Tabor says. "Right now, I
don't know where people who fit this profile are
located."

Tabor researched Omaha, Nebraska. She chose income under
Subjects A to Z, hit "1990 Census Lookup" and then
"STF3C-part 1," then checked the information she needed.
The data table she created included age, education, occupation and
median household and per capita incomes for 1989. This helped Tabor
discover exactly why she doesn't have many customers in Omaha.
The largest population numbers were in the 25- to 44-year-old age
group, and most people were not college graduates. While there were
many professional specialty occupations, the largest industry by
far was administrative support occupations (i.e., clerical jobs).
The median household income of $30,000 was also below that of her
typical customer.

Tabor's conclusion? "These statistics are a good guide
for determining what region to advertise in," she says. And
that's the beauty of using the Census Bureau--you get targeted
market research at the best price in the world.

Going Global

The Census' Web page is a good resource for people looking
to expand internationally. From the home page, your path begins at
the Current Economic Indicators, then goes to Business,
International Trade, and Country by one-digit SITC (Standard
International Trade Classification) commodity trade data.

There you'll find the country you're researching. Once
you choose what year's data you'd like to review, you can
obtain total amounts of commodities that the United States imports
from and exports to the country. "This section may indicate to
entrepreneurs what countries to consider as possible export
destinations," says John Kavaliunas, assistant chief of
marketing services for the Census Bureau.